Lamont Roach Jnr is glad that his team pursued an appeal of his controversial March 1 draw with lightweight titleholder Gervonta “Tank” Davis – but Roach also isn’t shocked that the New York State Athletic Commission declined their appeal.

Davis took a knee in the ninth round of the fight and then walked to his corner, where one of his trainers used a towel to wipe grease from his eye (which he said was from having his hair treated a couple days before the bout0. The referee, Steve Willis, began to issue a count to Davis before stopping.

If Willis had followed the rules of professional boxing and called it a knockdown, then the judges’ scores for that round would have been different. The narrow majority draw, allowing Davis to retain his WBA belt, could have instead been a close decision win for Roach, making him a two-division titleholder and guaranteeing him a lucrative rematch with Tank, who is one of the biggest box office draws in the United States.

(Davis also could have been penalized or even disqualified for his corner coming on to the ring apron.)

Earlier in the week, the NYSAC stated that technical difficulties prevented them from being able to review the sequence. However, an anonymous source contradicted this in an interview with Matthew Brown of Brunch Boxing, saying it had several angles available for review within seconds and had ruled that it wasn’t a knockdown.

Nevertheless, while the NYSAC has admitted to Willis’ mistake, it announced on Friday that the result would not be overturned.

Roach responded on social media on Saturday, both to the NYSAC’s decision as well as to those who incorrectly accused him of filing a lawsuit and criticized him.

“Look man, I’m going [to] tell y’all straight up, I aint sue nobody,” the WBA junior lightweight titleholder posted. “MY TEAM submitted an appeal on my behalf. What it look like not having a team that don’t pull that trigger on some shit that they know was wrong? They stood up for me. So all that lawsuit shit y’all can put to rest.

“I’m not surprised about the decision by the NYSAC,” Roach added. “A lil disappointed, yea. Especially when they ACKNOWLEDGED the fact that Steve [Willis] made the wrong calls in the ninth round. But I wasn’t banking on the overturn. Everyone know I won the fight, and I’m satisfied with that.”

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.